At the present time, physicians place an introducer sheath through the skin of a patient to access that patient's vascular system. Two usual places to gain access are through the skin at the groin to enter the femoral artery and through the skin in the wrist to access the radial artery. After the introducer sheath is placed through the skin, the physician will typically use a suture to fasten the proximal end of the introducer sheath to the patient's skin. That process requires the opening of an additional package that contains the suture thread and a needle and also requires skin penetration that can be somewhat painful for the patient and has the possibility of infection.
Another problem experienced by physicians who insert vascular sheaths is the considerable force that is required to pull a guiding catheter out of an introducer sheath. Thus, any means that can reduce the frictional force experienced in pulling a guiding catheter out of the introducer sheath would be an improvement that would be appreciated by operators who perform this procedure.
Another problem with current sheaths is vascular access bleeding that sometimes occurs after the sheath has been removed. In general, there is a relationship between the outer diameter of the inserted sheath and the risk of bleeding complications. Thus, sheaths with thinner walls would decrease the size of the hole at the vascular entry site and doing that would reduce bleeding complications.
Still another problem experienced by physicians who insert vascular sheaths is the complication of accidental sheath withdrawal from the vascular entry site during the procedure, particularly when a catheter is withdrawn from the sheath. This complication can be minimized by adhesively attaching the proximal end of the sheath to the skin with an adhesive as described herein Also, making the proximal portion of the shaft of the sheath (portion in the subcutaneous tissue) less lubricious, and by decreasing the frictional force exerted on the sheath's hemostasis valve during catheter removal will decrease the propensity for the sheath to be inadvertently pulled out of the blood vessel.